From January 4 through January 29, the Uzima pool at Animal Kingdom Lodge’s Jambo House will be closed for refurbishment. During this time, guests of the resort may use the Samawati Springs Pool at Kidani Village instead. ReSearch has been updated to reflect this and subscribers affected by this change have been notified.

Planning a trip to Walt Disney World? Be the first to know when changes that potentially affect your trip occur by signing up with ReSearch!

WALTHAM, Mass. and LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (Oct. 14, 2009) – Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) today unveiled the Sum of all Thrills™ at INNOVENTIONS at Epcot® at the Walt Disney World® Resort. This new ride is a unique experience that lets park guests custom-design their own thrill ride using mathematical tools, an innovative touch-screen table and a robotic simulator. As the first ride to be located within INNOVENTIONS at Epcot®, Sum of all Thrills™ is the latest example of Raytheon’s innovative approach to help educate and inspire young students about the power of math and math-related activities.

“Sum of all Thrills™ is an example of how Raytheon is using innovation to encourage students to develop and sustain an interest in math and science,” said William H. Swanson, Chairman and CEO of Raytheon Company. “By experiencing the “thrill” of math in this environment, students have the opportunity first hand to feel the excitement and possibilities of careers that are possible with math and science. We hope young people and adults alike will enjoy this innovative experience.”

Interactive and customizable, Sum of all Thrills™ lets guests of all ages create their own experience by first choosing a ride theme, including a roller coaster, bobsled or jet plane. Using multi-touch, object recognition tables with instructions available in six languages, guests use math and engineering based tools, such as rulers and speed dials, to design and customize their ride by adding corkscrews, inversions or steep hills. Guests learn and apply mathematical and engineering principles to determine how much energy is needed for a jet to take off or for a roller coaster or bobsled to make it up its first climb.

When the design of the ride is complete, it is saved on a personal card with a unique bar code. The card is then utilized to allow each guest to experience their custom ride from beginning to end on the robotic KUKA RoboSim 4-D simulator. Inside the simulator, guests experience their ride on immersive high definition video combined with stereo sound and controlled air motion for a complete sensory experience. The KUKA RoboSim 4-D simulator creates a four-dimensional experience through 3-D robotic motion and “wind” that controls air movement to stimulate the senses, providing a more realistic simulation experience.

Courtesy of our friends at Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, we are pleased to bring you this exciting opportunity in which two very lucky Stitch Kingdom readers will each win a copy of the newest Disney fairies film, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, in a Disney DVD and Blu-ray combo pack, available in stores on October 27. And if that isn’t enough, we’ll also be honoring the winner with his/her very own set of wearable fairy wings* created solely for promotion of the film and not available in any store! (Note that the color of the wings will be chosen at random and cannot be selected by the winner).

Burbank, CA (October 14, 2009) – Christmas chaos ensues for the Bannister family when they adopt a misguided guard dog, Zeus, to try and keep their home safe from neighborhood prowlers in the new ABC Family holiday movie, “The Dog Who Saved Christmas,” premiering on Sunday, November 29th (8:00-10:00Pm ET/PT). The two-hour film, premiering as part of the network’s annual “Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas” programming event, stars Dean Cain, Gary Valentine, Elisa Donovan, Joey Diaz, Mindy Sterling, Adrienne Barbeau and Mario Lopez as the voice of Zeus.

“Lanny and Wayne the Christmas Elves in Prep & Landing,” ABC’s first television special produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, will air TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1 (8:30-9:00 p.m. ET) on the ABC Television Network.

The half-hour holiday special reveals the never-before-told tale of an elite unit of Elves known as Prep & Landing. Every Christmas Eve this high-tech organization ensures that homes around the world are properly prepared for the yearly visit from The Big Guy, their code name for Santa Claus.

If a picture says a thousand words, here’s eight thousand, all touting the return of the Toy Story franchise to the big screen in Toy Story 3, slated to be released on June 18, 2010.

With love from Walt Disney Studios and Disney/Pixar, here’s the entire collection of recently released Toy Story 3 teaser posters, each (save for one) featuring a different character (Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Hamm, Mr. Potato Head, Slinky and Rex). I must confess that Disney sent them to us as 6 MegaPixels each and the detail is amazing. We had to shrink them down a bit to get them to fit into the blog, but you can still catch some of the amazing detail and textures, particularly on Woody, where you can see where the vinyl of his hat has been subject to a lot of wear and tear and love.

The Wine & Dine Walk runs Friday through Sunday of tournament week, with food, beer and wine stations positioned on key holes along the back nine of the Magnolia course offering fans the best flavors of New England, Africa and India. Cuisine from some of Disney’s newest and most popular restaurants will be featured, including The Wave (Disney’s ContemporaryResort), Sanaa (Kidani Village at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge) and The Turf Club Bar & Grill (Disney’s Saratoga SpringsResort & Spa). The wine, beer and cuisine offerings will range from $3.25 to $7.50. For more information, visit www.childrensmiraclenetworkclassic.com.

“The Wine & Dine Walk will offer fans an enhanced golf experience that makes enjoying the tournament as easy as a ‘walk in the park,’” tournament director Kevin Weickel said. “We are bringing together the culinary expertise of our various Disney resorts to create a potpourri of cultural experiences intertwined with the drama of the final PGA TOUR Fall Series event.”

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. and BRISTOL, Conn., Oct. 13 — NASCAR fans will have the chance to choose their side in the battle to control the planet when Paramount Home Entertainment and ESPN launch a unique promotional campaign in support of the October 20 debut of TRANSFORMERS: Revenge of the Fallen on DVD and Blu-ray. Paramount Home Entertainment will sponsor not one, but two of the vehicles taking part in the October 17 “NASCAR Banking 500 only from Bank of America Race” at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina, a first for any film property.

The cars will be driven by rising star and 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman and 4-time Sprint Cup Series Jeff Gordon. Newman’s car, uniform and pit crew all will be branded with images of OPTIMUS PRIME, the heroic leader of the peace-loving AUTOBOTS. Gordon’s car, uniform and crew will sport graphics of MEGATRON, the malevolent leader of the DECEPTICONS. Michael Bay, the director of the TRANSFORMERS megahits, will be the official pace car driver for the 50th running of the NASCAR Banking 500 only from Bank of America at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Saturday night, Oct. 17. The race will air on ABC at 7 p.m. ET.